Quote:
Originally Posted by Sniper297
According to that a Gato is not supposed to be available for an Asiatic career until 1944, so I missed a file hack someplace.
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At least three
GATO class boats were in Asiatic by 1943. USS
Silversides began her 4th patrol out of Brisbane in Dec 1942; a most memorable patrol for pharmacist's mate, PM1 Thomas Moore who performed a successful emergency appendectomy immediately followed by enduring a severe ASW DC attack 23 Dec when
Silversides attempted to surface.
After the attack seemed to be over,
Quote:
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"Thinking herself safe, Silversides surfaced only to find the destroyer still there. Additionally, a Japanese airplane had arrived on the scene, and proceeded to drop three bombs on the submarine, severely damaging her bow planes and causing them to lock on full dive. Silversides managed to level off just short of crush depth and eventually evaded the enemy ship before surfacing to recharge her batteries and effect emergency repairs."
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Silversides continued her patrol.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Silversides_(SS-236)
I wanted to correct the
GATO Asiatic start date and tell the interesting (story) of part of
Silversides fourth patrol. After the above incident, she went on to sink the largest ship of her career before returning to port for major repairs.
Happy Hunting!